Hygiene regulations in premises such as restaurants, shops and factories in which food is handled have become increasingly stringent in recent years. Generally, the management is held responsible for ensuring that all employees wash their hands properly, for example after using the lavatory, before returning to work. It is however difficult for handwashing regulations to be properly enforced unless it can be comprehensively monitored. In particular, although an employee may be seen to visit a wash basin it is difficult to ensure that he does more than run his fingers under the tap. Also, it is difficult to ensure that soap is used during each hand wash, or indeed to provide soap which can be used without the risk of cross-contamination.
Handwashing units are known which include proximity sensors which automatically switch on a water supply when hands are inserted into a wash basin, thereby avoiding the need for manual contact with any taps or switches and thus reducing the risk of crosscontamination. In one known type of unit, the washing water supplied has a hand washing detergent or disinfectant component dissolved in it, for example an iodophor.
Various systems have been developed wherein it is intended that a counter be incremented each time a worker uses a handwash station. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,118 discloses a handwash station wherein soap is first dispensed onto a user's hands, followed by rinsing water. A counter is incremented at a predetermined point in the wash cycle. The disclosed system suffers from the problem that there is no positive determination that the user has indeed washed his/her hands fully.
Similarly, the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,258 is based on the assumption that once a user has started a wash cycle she/he will complete it.
Recent developments in soap technology have produced liquid soaps with very low viscosity. When such soaps are used, there is a temptation for a busy worker merely to wipe off the soap on his/her clothing rather than rinsing properly.
Another problem associated with prior art handwash stations is that dirt accumulates between the station and the wall on which it is mounted. It is difficult to clean this dirt away which poses a health threat.